paid protester

2ND ON TOWN HALL MTG 3 25

blank 219

see hired actor extras

SEE DEEP FAKE ICE LA

SEE CONSPIRACY SOROS

see outside agitator

AGITATOR reboot, meld w paid protestor soros BS // antifa 4 terror 3 BS

aha: what is origin of rumor? right needs to explain why their ideas not popular, and must explain away corrollary evidence on pop of left ideas. variant of mohawk outside agitator?

// MYTH LIB PRESS, PINKO PROF? paid scientist

---

=-==

YT? 10 26

FLOCK CEO SAYS ~ ACTIV = BOTS

-=-=

---

lawyer forced?

MMA

June 26, 2026, edition of Fox Business' Mornings with Maria Bartiromo

MARIA BARTIROMO (ANCHOR): Meanwhile there's this, Kevin O'Leary appeared as a guest on this program back on May 11 and discussed the ongoing controversy surrounding his planned data center project in Utah. Now, he made certain claims relating to the opponents of that project. Mr. O'Leary has now corrected the record and explained that he has no evidence that the Alliance for a Better Utah, Elevate Strategies, Josh Kanter, Taylor Knuth, or Gabrielle Finlayson are funded by China or the Chinese Communist Party. Fox News Media is likely — likewise aware of no evidence that they are funded by or acting at the direction of or in coordination with Chinese interests in opposing Kevin O'Leary's project. Fox News Media apologizes for the error.

---

agitiator reboot, meld w paid protestor soros BS // antifa 4 terror 3 BS

MMA

January 24, 2026, edition of The Benny Show, posted to YouTube

BENNY JOHNSON (HOST): You need to pray for Border Patrol, federal law enforcement, and ICE right now as Minneapolis is about to pop off. Another deadly shooting.

This time, a left-wing protester attempted to pull this Sig Sauer handgun on federal officers and commit a mass murder, potentially killing many of them because there were quite a few around during an arrest situation where a left-wing agitator, probably a professional paid agitator, 51 years-old, was reaching for this firearm.

Federal law enforcement put him down, but a Border Patrol member shot and killed an individual in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the intersection of 26th Street, Nicollet Avenue. This is the same avenue that the Quality Learning center is on. Goodness gracious. What started it all, and now we're learning so much more about what the left is willing to do.

This would be the second time that a leftist paid protester, agitator, terrorist has been killed in self-defense by federal law enforcement for attempting to commit murder. Renee Good tried to run over federal officers, and this individual tried to shoot federal officers. You can see here in this video -- what you'll see is federal officers tussling, attempting to apprehend the agitator and then the individual showed his firearm. And you can hear the discharge of a weapon. And the reactions from inside of whatever establishment was filming this -- again, well, stop resisting arrest. Stop fighting federal law enforcement.

### Discussing Minnesota, FBI Director Kash Patel says “some of the best reporting” has been through Benny Johnson and Cam Higby: “As soon as Higby put that post out, I opened an investigation on it”

:{01/26/26

### Benny Johnson on Greenland: “President Trump ruling an empire. We are an empire once more.”

:{01/22/26

### Many right-wing media figures fell in line after Trump renewed threat to acquire Greenland

01/21/2

---

an 1 26

Like a paid opera singer': Trump attacks woman shouting 'shame' after Renee Good shooting

Sarah K. Burris

---

OMG SEE RENEE GOOD

RENEE GOOD AN 1 26

CNN host Kaitlan Collins forced U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) that the fatal shooting of an American citizen at the hands of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was not worthy of a follow-up investigation.

“If they're investigating anything, they need to be investigating the paid protesters, and who's paying them to obstruct federal officers from doing their job,” Mullin said of slain 37 year-old Minneapolis, Minnesota mother Renee Good, without evidence that Good was a paid protestor.

“We've seen the videos and how quickly it happened. Do you have no unanswered questions?” Collins prodded.

“No. Absolutely not. It is very clear," Mullin responded.

“It’s clear which bullet killed her or how fast she accelerated?” Collins asked. “You don't have any of those questions?”

“What does it matter which bullet killed her? What does it matter how fast she accelerated?” Mullin said.

“That's typical of how an investigation would work when a federal officer kills an American citizen, is it not? I mean, they would look into those things,” Collins insisted.

“Are we doubting the fact that she accelerated and hit an officer?” Mullins demanded. “Is that debatable? No, it's not debatable.”

“You say that is so clear, but there are officials that we've had on this show from Minnesota and local officials who believe that this was murder,” said Collins. “They've watched the same videos you have, and they've come to a totally different conclusion. So why not have an investigation?”

“But it's clear what took place,” Mullins said.

“To you. But other people say it's the opposite,” Collins said.

---

OMFG

an 9 25

In between his highly publicized designation of Antifa as a domestic terror organization and his indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, US President Donald Trump signed a little-reported national security memorandum that gives law enforcement new tools to target his critics.

Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) on Thursday. The directive, titled “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” focuses exclusively on “anti-fascist” or left-wing activities, and mandates a “national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts.”

“I don’t want to sound hyperbolic but the plain truth is that NSPM-7 is a declaration of war on anyone who does not support the Trump administration and its agenda,” journalist Ken Klippenstein wrote in a piece raising alarm about the directive on Saturday.

Klippenstein argued that the memorandum was worrying on several fronts. For one, its focus on preventing crimes before they are committed opens the door to rights violations.

“In other words, they’re targeting pre-crime, to reference Minority Report,” Klippenstein wrote.

IFrame Content

For another, the memorandum casts a very wide net, targeting groups, individuals, funders, and “entities” and listing several protected beliefs as “indicia” of extremism.

These include:

“Anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity;

Support for the overthrow of the United States Government;

Extremism on migration, race, and gender; and

Hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”

What’s more, the memorandum entrusts enforcement to the FBI’s over 4,000-strong Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF), which removes the legal challenges to directing the National Guard or other military forces to quash domestic dissent.

“For the Trump White House, the beauty of using an already existing network is that it bypasses Congressional oversight and scrutiny and even obscures federal activity to governors and legislatures at the state level,” Klippenstein wrote.

The types of activities that will be targeted are also quite broad, with the document defining “organized doxing campaigns, swatting, rioting, looting, trespass, assault, destruction of property, threats of violence, and civil disorder” as “domestic terrorist acts.”

The memorandum also targets any individual or group who might fund activity the administration deems terrorism and directs the Internal Revenue Service to “take action to ensure that no tax-exempt entities are directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism,” which could be a means of threatening the status of nonprofits.

Finally, as Drop Site Newspointed out, the memo authorizes the attorney general to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations for the first time in US history.

“By targeting beliefs and protest activity, the directive positions dissent itself as a potential crime,” Drop Sitewrote.

The Trump administration’s focus on violence associated with left-wing beliefs and groups is not supported by the facts. National Institute of Justice data found that right-wing violence had led to 520 deaths since 1990 compared with 78 deaths due to left-wing violence. However, the administration removed that study from the Department of Justice website shortly after Charlie Kirk was killed, The Guardianreported earlier this month.

The administration’s efforts, while accelerated, build on processes that began during the US response to the September 11 attacks, as Klippenstein explained:

A “pre-crime” endeavor, preventing attacks before they happen, is core to the post-9/11 concept of counterterrorism itself. No longer satisfied to investigate acts of terrorism after the fact to bring terrorists to justice, the Bush administration adopted preemption. Overseas, that led to aerial assassination by drones and “special operations” kill missions. Domestically, it led to a counter-terrorism campaign whose hallmark was excessive and illegal government surveillance and the use of undercover agents and “confidential human sources” to trap (and entrap) would-be terrorists.

However, the Trump administration is expanding the War-on-Terror mandate with fewer guardrails.

“Now, with Donald Trump’s directive retooling the counter-terror apparatus to go after Americans at home, this means monitoring political activity, or speech, as an investigative method to discover ‘radicalism,‘” Klippenstein said, noting that the NSPM-7 breaks with post-Watergate national security documents by failing to mention the First Amendment rights to protest and organize.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is already eager to make use of the document.

“We are witnessing domestic terrorist sedition against the federal government,” he wrote on social media on Friday. “The JTTF has been dispatched by the Attorney General, pursuant to NSPM-7. All necessary resources will be utilized.”

In an interview with Greg Sargent for theNew Republic, Trump ally Steve Bannon confirmed that Miller and others in the administration were preparing to go after left-liberal groups and media whose criticism of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could be interpreted as “goading” on violence against the agency.

Referring to Miller’s comments that calling ICE authoritarian incited violence and terrorism, Bannon responded, “Stephen Miller is correct—more importantly he’s in charge.

The threats of investigations put liberal and left-leaning organizations in a tough place. On the one hand, they want to prepare as best they can. On the other, they do not want to obey in advance.

“Officials at these groups tell me they must strike a balance between being clear-eyed about how bad this could get while not letting it discourage political activity,” Sargent wrote. “That latter form of surrender is exactly what Trump and Miller want. And under no circumstances should anybody willingly hand it over to them.”

---

MMA

Right-wing media call for “overwhelming force” and arrests in LA protests

Written by Chloe Simon & Reed McMaster

Published 06/12/25

Protests in Los Angeles have been ongoing as Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids continue to target migrant communities. In response, right-wing media have urged the Trump administration and law enforcement to crack down harder on protesters, called for Democratic officials to be arrested, and suggested the protesters were funded by outside groups.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham and others encouraged President Donald Trump to employ the Insurrection Act against protesters while Daily Wire host Matt Walsh said Trump should use “overwhelming force.” Fox host Sean Hannity and War Room host Steve Bannon have called for arrests of Democratic officials, and The Daily Caller blamed a “Pro-Chinese Communist Millionaire” for funding the protests.

Protests erupted after the Trump administration conducted ICE raids in LA and sent in troops

- In late May, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller demanded ICE officials begin targeting migrants at places of work, specifically noting stores like Home Depot and 7-Eleven. In an emergency meeting, Miller reportedly berated officials, according to three current and former immigration officials. One told The Washington Examiner, “They’ve been threatened, told they’re watching their emails and texts and Signals. That’s what is horrible about things right now. It’s a fearful environment. Everybody in leadership is afraid. … There’s no morale. Everybody is demoralized.” One official said Miller asked, “Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?” Washington Examiner, [5/30/25]

- Protests erupted in LA following ICE raids on businesses in the area on Friday, June 6, and have continued after the Trump administration sent in the National Guard and Marines. The protests spread from the garment district, where agents were first spotted searching for migrants, and have been “largely peaceful.” The New York Times, [6/11/25]

- CNN reports “Trump is building a political case to use American troops not in a foreign conflict, but at home, to bolster his mass deportation sweeps.”CNN described Trump’s strategy as “conjuring a narrative of invasion and insurrection,” adding: “He’s exaggerating disorder in the relatively contained unrest, looting and protests in Los Angeles. And he’s implying that, to keep the country safe, he’s ready to deploy soldiers across the country.” CNN, [6/11/25]

## Right-wing pundits urged Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, arrest protesters, or utilize “overwhelming force” to put down protests

- Fox News legal analyst Kerri Kupec Urbahn suggested the protests could give Trump a path to invoke the Insurrection Act. She claimed, “What the Trump administration could do, and there’s gonna be a lot of conversation about that publicly and I'm sure it’s happening right now behind the scenes, is invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the United States government to send in military when there is an obstruction happening of federal law enforcement with or without the state's consent. So I think that may be where this is headed if this doesn't quiet down.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [6/9/25]

- In an op-ed for The Daily Wire, host Matt Walsh wrote, “The only solution, of course, is to treat them like the terrorists they are. Use overwhelming force to put down the riots.” He added: “Charge and convict the rioters and send them to prison for years. … Any illegal foreign invader involved in a riot should be shipped immediately to Guantanamo Bay.” The Daily Wire, [6/9/25]

- Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk suggested invoking the Insurrection Act. He claimed, “Los Angeles does not feel like a protest, what's happening there. It's an entire city that's declaring open rebellion to American sovereignty and authority.” Rumble, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [6/9/25]

- Fox News host Laura Ingraham argued it would be Trump’s “right” and “obligation” to invoke the Insurrection Act if he feels the U.S. “is being threatened from within.” She said, “Now Democrats are pretending to be outraged about the prospect of Trump invoking the Insurrection Act. Which, of course, is his right. I’d say it's his obligation to do if — and it's his call — if he feels the United States is being threatened from within by violent, seditionary forces.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [6/10/25]

- White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes urged the Trump administration to use the protests “to federalize a National Guard and send it into the cities. Take over law enforcement. And above all else, use it to arrest thousands of people every day to be deported.” He also added, “If we're not doing that, then we're wasting our time here. It's just a big stunt.” Rumble, *America First with Nick Fuentes*, [6/10/25]

- Zach Hoyt, one of Twitch's most popular streamers who goes by “Asmongold,” called for the Trump administration to enact martial law and put protestors in “little camps.” Hoyt stated, “They just need to completely fucking, like, stomp this shit out.” He added, “Bring in the military, bring in the National Guard, fucking martial law, curfews — arrest all these people. Make the little camps where you can hold them in. Do the entire fucking thing.” Twitch, ZackRawrr, [6/9/25; The Atlantic, 4/25/25]

## Some commentators demanded Trump arrest Democratic politicians such as Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass

- War Roomhost Steve Bannon called for Bass’ arrest and accused officials of “getting in between ICE and other law enforcement.” He stated, “Right there, LAPD. The mayor is involved in this and having the stand down. She ought to be arrested today. Immediately.” Real Americas' Voice, *War Room*, [6/9/25]

- On his radio show, Fox News host Sean Hannity said Newsom “should be arrested for obstructing U.S. immigration law.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [6/9/25]

- In an interview with “border czar” Tom Homan, Trump ally Laura Loomer asked if he would criminally charge Democratic politicians like Newsom or Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) for “obstructionist behavior.” Loomer: “Are you having any discussions with DHS, with the DOJ, or with the Trump administration to possibly bring criminal charges for harboring of illegal aliens by people like Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, or mayor Karen Bass, or people like Nancy Pelosi or Maxine Waters, because this would really fit the bill of what you described as obstructionist behavior. It's incitement, in my opinion. They are inciting violence by fanning the flames of violence against ICE officials and people like yourself. What qualifies as obstructionist behavior, and will we see any Democrat lawmakers or the governor himself be criminally charged?” Rumble, *Loomer Unleashed*, [6/9/25]

## Some right-wing figures also suggested the protesters were paid and funded by China, billionaires, or church groups

- Fox & Friendshost Brian Kilmeade alleged that “the opposition” in Los Angeles includes groups “supported by the state, the government, and the Chinese government.” Kilmeade later claimed that “they are getting paid.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [6/10/25]

- Bannon: “This thing is organized, it’s another huge thing financed by the Walton family and all these billionaires.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [6/10/25]

- On Bannon’s podcast, conservative personality Ben Bergquam claimed Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Services are behind the LA protests. He stated, “As soon as you start going after the organizations that are behind this, whether that's Catholic Charities, or Lutheran Social Services, or any of these organizations. The communist groups in our country that are working intentionally to undermine this nation, the liberation theology pastors in our country, all of this, that's the root of it.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [6/9/25]

- The Daily Caller published an article headlined “Group Stoking Anti-ICE LA Riots Tied To Pro-Chinese Communist Millionaire.” The piece went on to allege that the “Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) spoke out in support of the mob rioting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the weekend, posted to X to call for more action on Sunday and created signs that protesters were seen carrying. The PSL shares personnel overlap with groups funded by American tech mogul Neville Singham, whom The New York Times described in August 2023 as sitting at the center of a ‘lavishly funded influence campaign’ promoting pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda.” The Daily Caller, [6/9/25]

---

an 4 25 6 EJECTED, 3 AT LEAST ARRESTED, 2 TAZED

QUESTIONS SCREENED?

Greene gives 'word of warning' to constituents: 'Behave' or be 'thrown out' of town hall

Greene has declared her Tuesday night town hall is for constituents only, who must submit questions only in advance, must sign up, and then “sit and listen.” The Georgia Republican declared protesters, whom she alleged would only be “paid” Democrats, will be ejected.

In a social media video, Congresswoman Greene stated, “this is a town hall that’s strictly for constituents. That means you have to live in my district, and you had to sign up on the sign up link. That’s important. Make sure you bring your ID, as we will be verifying that you actually live in the district and have signed up to be in the town hall.”

Greene, under scrutiny over recent stock purchases she allegedly made, is holding the town hall in a county Vice President Kamala Harris carried in November by 15 percentage points, according to Fox News. The GOP Congresswoman established additional rules, namely, no protesting—despite First Amendment protections.

“Also, this is important for everyone attending the town hall,” she said. “You need to understand this is not a place to protest. This isn’t a place to stand up and scream and yell. This is a place to sit and listen, and we have your questions if you signed up.”

IFrame Content

Then she served up “one word of warning for you: If you’re planning to act up scream and protest, you’re going to be thrown out. And that’s the way it goes. We know how the Democrat Party is organizing and funding these protests for Republican town halls, all across America. And I’m just going to tell you, I don’t tolerate it.”

“America voted for President Trump, they voted for Republicans to be in charge of Congress and the Senate, and they voted to put America first, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” she concluded

Speaking to Fox News, Greene added she expects her constituents to “behave well. And we expect them to be, you know, respectful.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

XIT

I’m so excited for my Town Hall in Cobb County tonight! To my constituents who have registered and are planning to attend this evening, regardless of your political party, I’m excited to see you and answer your questions. To the paid Democrat protestors planning to show up from across the country tonight, stay outside. This is not your event. And Donald Trump is still your president.

---

3 25

an 3 25

LEXINGTON — More than 900 people gathered Saturday morning for what was billed as a People’s Town Hall at the Kentucky Theatre. Many waited in line to address an empty chair on stage next to a sign that said “Reserved for Congressman Andy Barr.”

Multiple speakers, including Brady Blanton of Richmond, alluded to Republican Barr’s earlier suggestions that attendees were “liberal activists” or paid to be there.

“I’m not a paid protester; I’m a blue collar worker,” Blanton said. “I am a child of Social Security survivors benefits and Medicaid after my father passed away 15 years ago and they kept my family afloat.”

Blanton, 26, told the Lantern he works for a plastics manufacturer in Winchester. He said he still depends on Medicaid to provide his 2-year-old daughter’s health insurance and that he worries that cuts to Veterans Affairs will hurt his grandfather, a veteran of the Vietnam War.

Blanton noted that the U.S. House’s budget blueprint would increase defense spendingby $100 billion while cutting $880 billionfrom health and human services such as Medicaid, which covers 196,729 people in the 6th Congressional District or 26% of Barr’s constituents. Almost 1 in 3 Kentuckians are enrolled in Medicaid.

Barr says don’t worry about Trump and Musk, but declines chance to reassure upcoming town hall

IFrame Content

The Department of Veterans Affairs would lose 80,000 jobsunder a planned reorganization by the Trump administration, according to an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press. VA provides health care and other services to veterans.

Older speakers talked about their fathers’ military service, including fighting fascism in World War II, and their distress at what they see as Republican President Donald Trump’s embrace of authoritarianism while giving longtime allies the cold shoulder.

Describing himself as a lifelong Republican, Edwin Gibson said his father had served in the Navy during the Korean War and that he himself had been stationed in the Army in Germany during the Cold War. “Congressman Barr, you are complicit in the betrayal of our democracy,” Gibson said.

Barr, of Lexington, who is mulling a run for U.S. Senate next year to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell, took to X (formerly Twitter)Saturday morning to “set the record straight” in response to what he called “the handful of people who falsely claim they cannot reach anyone in my office or that I ‘refuse to hold town hall meetings.’”

Barr in his X post said that he and his staff are in daily contact with his constituents and that they host monthly office hours in every county of the district. He said he is hosting a telephone town hall Monday night.

“What we will not do is provide a forum for individuals more interested in grandstanding than engaging in a respectful and constructive conversation,” Barr said.

Organizers with the nonpartisan group Gathering for Democracy said that after not getting a commitment from Barr in response to their invitations, they decided to schedule the town hall to give people “distressed by what is happening in our government” an opportunity to come together and talk about their concerns.

“The intent is to invite dialogue,” said Judith Humble, one of the event’s organizers. She said volunteers handed out 800 cards for attendees to fill out before running out of cards.

Speakers were filmed and the video will be sent to Barr; attendees could write a question and tell their story to the congressman on the cards, which also will be sent to Barr. Former Lexington Mayor Steve Kay moderated.

Concerns voiced during the gathering ranged widely from cuts to the U.S. Forest Service cited by a speaker who identified himself as an archaeologist to worries that the elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development will cancel expansion of the University of Kentucky’s partnernshipwith the underserved community of Santo Domingo, Ecuador.

Students, faculty, staff and community members participate in UK’s Shoulder to Shoulder Global,described on the program’s website as “transformative, short-term experiences in global health.” Plans to start a physical rehabilitation center as part of the program are on hold because a federal grant has been frozen, said physical therapist Lynn English.

Barr also took to X after the gathering saying: “Nice to see Soros + the left lighting money on fire. No amount of manufactured outrage by paid activists will stop the mandate for total overhaul of DC” and reiterating his support for Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson has advised Republicans to avoid town halls after some GOP representatives have faced hostile crowds.

The Kentucky Democratic Party and former U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Louisville plan to hold a town hall in Lexington Wednesday at the Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

---

mma // paid protestor?

Sean Hannity claims clips of outraged constituents at GOP town halls are “fake videos”

03/21/25

===

---

MMA // FALSE FLAG PAID PROTESTOR CITY SLICKER MERCEDES WALK OUT OF TOWN HALL

Sean Hannity suggests the “uptick in callers” to his radio show that are angry with Donald Trump are staged

03/04/25

https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/sean-hannity-suggests-uptick-callers-his-radio-show-are-angry-donald-trump-are-staged)

---

NRCC TELLS GUYS NO MORE TOWN HALLS

===

rww

02/27/2025

Kyle Mantyla

Malcolm Ferguson @ The New Republic: Andrew Tate Is on His Way to the U.S. Thanks to Trump

The misogynist facing charges of human trafficking is on a plane back to the United States.

Angry White Men: Christian Nationalist Podcasters Interview Holocaust Denier Ron Unz

As part of a new interview series, white Christian nationalists C. Jay Engel and Andrew Isker spoke with Ron Unz about Charles Lindbergh and World War II. A well-known Holocaust denier, Unz has written that the Holocaust was a “hoax” and that Jews have a “notorious tendency to lie and dissemble.”

Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: GOP Congressman: It's OK if Elon fires you since "God has a plan and purpose for your life"

Republican Congressman Mark Alford of Missouri offered thoughtless religious platitudes to his constituents.

Janna Brancolini @ The Daily Beast: Johnson Tries to Shrug Off Anti-DOGE Town Halls as the Work of ‘Paid Protesters’

> Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) claimed Wednesday that Americans who attended recent rowdy Republican town halls were “paid protesters.”

---

MMA MASS DEPORT PROTEST LA

February 3, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Five

DANA PERINO (CO-HOST): It does make you wonder if the climate groups are working with the immigration groups to be, like, the most hated groups in America.

GREG GUTFELD (CO-HOST): Do you know what, you just -- who's behind it?

PERINO: Exactly.

GUTFELD: Who's behind this? Is it USAID?

PERINO: Well, I don't think it's them, but I do think it is S-O-R-O-S --

GUTFELD: Soros, who is funded by --

PERINO -- types of people. Or Arabella Advisors.

GUTFELD: But they're funded by USAID. See? It's all making sense, Judge. It's all one tangled web of evil.

---

alternet

It's not just social media that's giving violent white supremacists a pass

Thom Hartmann January 11, 2025

— The fossil fuel industry is apparently paying off Republicans — in a practice legalized by Republicans on the Supreme Court — to make sure Congress never passes legislation to hold them accountable for all the death and destruction they’ve caused by lying about climate change for the past 50 years. }:

Here, for example, are the biggest recipients of their largesse, according to OpenSecrets:

Romney, Mitt (R-UT) $8,291,262; Cornyn, John (R-TX) $4,678,062; Cruz, Ted (R-TX) $4,138,421; McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) $2,852,107; McCarthy, Kevin (R-CA) $2,581,832; Hutchison, Kay Bailey (R-TX) $2,332,021; Inhofe, James M (R-OK) $2,320,139; Pearce, Steve (R-NM) $2,236,714; Barton, Joe (R-TX) $2,211,987; Brady, Kevin (R-TX) $2,087,396; Scalise, Steve (R-LA) $1,847,013; Murkowski, Lisa (R-AK) $1,792,602.

If you haven’t yet noticed the trend, just check out the party affiliation of each…}:

— Convicted Felon Trump now has the “Scarlet F”: Our first felon President. There was a time that many of us remember when America — for all our faults, history, and stupid international meddling — was seen around the world as a beacon of morality and the staunchest defender of democratic values. Now, we’re the laughingstock — or the terror — of the developed world, since a grifting adjudicated sexual abuser, Putin lackey, and chronic liar is about to become president again. Alexander Hamilton warned us, but our media was far too busy fluffing Trump’s ego and sanewashing his BS to remind us that our first Secretary of the Treasury and the main author of the Federalist Papers wrote, in 1792:

“Those then, who resist a confirmation of public order, are the true Artificers of monarchy... When a man unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents, having the advantage of military habits—despotic in his ordinary demeanour—known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty—when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity—to join in the cry of danger to liberty—to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion—to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day

It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.’” (Emphasis added)}:

And “directing the whirlwind” of racial hate, fear, and bigotry — as I regularly point out here on Hartmann Report— is exactly what Trump thinks he can do to reverse the Civil Rights movement and the New Deal (I’m skeptical he can pull it off). The Founders — and FDR and LBJ — must be rolling in their graves…

— It's not just social media that's giving violent white supremacists a pass... Without telling us, so far as I can tell, Bloomberg is reporting that the FBI (and the DHS more generally) stopped seriously monitoring and infiltrating violent white supremacist groups two years ago, around the time they were being trashed for such investigations by sedition-, Putin-, and Trump-loving Republicans in the House. The pressure seems to have worked.

“In 2022, DHS closed its Disinformation Governance Board, designed to offer best practices in countering viral conspiracies,” reports Bloomberg, adding that, “DHS also recently shuttered a unit that swept the internet for threatening materials in public posts, social media messages and online forums…”

Putin’s internet trolls, operating with huge budgets and the resources of the Russian state behind them, have since become a major force on the top social media sites, and both X and Meta are no longer suppressing their lies and attacks on democracy. Is it fossil fuel billionaires or social media billionaires who are the greatest threat to the future of world peace and democracy? Hard to choose…

— Greedy insurer interrupts cancer surgery in shocking mid-procedure call... Dr. Elisabeth Potter was in the middle of surgery on a breast cancer patient when a nurse ran into the operating theater to say that UnitedHealthcare was on the phone demanding to speak with her. She interrupted the surgery, leaving the unconscious patient whose chest was cut open on the table, to take the call. Here’s her story in her own words, as she told it on Instagram and later confirmed with Newsweek:

“So, I scrubbed out of my case and I called UnitedHealthcare, and the gentleman said he needed some information about her. Wanted to know her diagnosis and whether her inpatient stay should be justified. And I was like, ‘Do you understand this? She's asleep right now and she has breast cancer?’ And the gentleman said, ‘Actually, I don’t — that’s a different department that would know that information.’ And I was like, ‘Well, she does need to stay overnight tonight, and you have all the information with you because I got approval for this surgery, and I need to go back and be with my patient now.’ But, yeah, it’s out of control. Insurance is out of control. I have no other words.”

I can think of a few words: Parasitic, thief, malefic, heinous, flagitious, depraved, monstrous, mephistophelean, godless, loathsome, psychopathic, cruel, sadistic, maleficient, and vile for a start… Feel free to add your nouns or adjectives in the comments below.

— Indiana Republicans want to threaten rape victims with felonies if they try to get an abortion. Over at her brilliant “Abortion Every Day” substack newsletter, Jessica Valenti tells us that Indiana State Senator Mike Young has proposed legislation that would subject a woman in that state to 2.5 years in prison if she were to claim rape to get an abortion (about the only way to get an abortion in Indiana, unless your life is in danger) and then can’t subsequently prove to the satisfaction of the state’s GOP that she was actually raped.}:

The bill also makes it a crime to possess the abortion drug mifepristone, evoking the possibility of midnight raids with Indiana police kicking in the doors of women who Indiana Republicans think may have purchased the drug from an online telehealth physician. Freedumb!!}:

— Wondering why Trump is on a jeremiad against Panama? Some suggest his rant was timed to coincide with Jimmy Carter’s funeral to give rightwing media an excuse to trash Carter’s signing the Panama Canal Treaty that Nixon first started negotiating. But consider this story from Newsweek titled “Trump Organization Accused of Tax Evasion in Panama.” Just like the way he scammed New York State out of tax dollars (for which he was adjudicated and sentenced last year) his failed hotel in Panama hadn’t been paying its taxes either. Trump’s involved in a huge lawsuit down their right now, and some speculate that toppling the Panamanian government might work out well for his personal interests. Keep an eye on this one!

— James Carville suggests Jeff Bezos is trying to buy Trump via Melania. Amazon has just announced that they’re going to spend $40 million on a documentary about Melania Trump, who got her legal status in the US with a “genius visa” that’s typically reserved for the world’s top scientists and Nobel Prize winners (there are only around 3,000 issued every year). Carville, who was himself the subject of a recent Netflix documentary, implies that this number stinks of a payoff:

“This is something I’m going to claim some expertise in, the subject of documentaries because I’ve been the subject of two and I’ve been the subject of a recent one… You can produce a world class documentary for $2 million. I know it. You couldn’t spend $40 million on a documentary if you tried 10 times harder to do it, so where’s the money going? Well, we know where the money is going.”

Why? Well, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 17 state attorneys general are suing Amazon for allegedly maintaining a monopoly through anticompetitive practices, and Bezos apparently hates unions and might want help stopping them in his warehouses…

— Crazy Alert! Greenlanders really hate Trump, so Don Jr. had to hire homeless people to make it look like somebody was welcoming him. Danish Radio (which once loaned me a studio for two weeks to do my show: great people!) is reporting that after having Greenlanders give him the finger in the airport and post “Yankee go home” on Facebook, Don Jr. had to hire a few local “homeless and socially disadvantaged” people to pretend to be Trump supporters for his recent stunt visiting that country. As one local, Tom Amtof of the town of Nuuk, told DR News: “All they have to do is put on a cap and be in the Trump staff’s videos. They are being bribed, and it is deeply distasteful.” Yeah, distasteful. Again, there are other words…

NOW READ: Trump and his minions attempt to make America small, stupid and mean

an ah 10 22

In QAnon circles, some far-right conspiracy theorists believe that Juan O. Savin, a.k.a. Wayne Willott, is really John F. Kennedy Jr. — who was 38 when he was killed in a plane crash in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts in 1999. Kennedy, according to their outlandish claim, faked his own death and is now a 61-year-old influencer in the far-right QAnon movement.

But Savin/Willott himself has never claimed to be President John F. Kennedy’s son. He has, however, promoted another bogus conspiracy theory: the Big Lie, falsely claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump through widespread voter fraud. And Savin/Willott is the co-founder of the America First Secretary of State Coalition (AFSOSC), an organization that is trying to get fellow Big Lie promoters elected to secretary of state positions in the 2022 midterms. One of his candidates is Jim Marchant, Nevada’s Republican secretary of state nominee and AFSOSC’s other co-founder.

The Daily Beast’s Kelly Weill examines the progress that Savin/Willott has made in an article published on October 25, noting that AFSOSC’s coal is “to place election-denying candidates in charge of states’ elections.”

:{:{“Just weeks out from the midterms,” Weill reports, “some AFSOS-backed candidates have remained in lockstep with Savin and his allies, even as other Republicans draw away from the QAnon-aligned figures. Secretaries of state help run elections and certify their states’ election results; following Donald Trump’s refusal to accept his 2020 loss, election deniers on the right have eyed secretary of state roles as a possible way to force Republican victories.”}:

Marchant, according to Weill, has said, “When I’m secretary of state of Nevada, we are going to fix it, and when my coalition of secretary of state candidates around the country get elected, we’re going to fix the whole country — and President Trump is going to be president again in 2024.”

Weill warns that Savin/Willott’s “partnership” with Marchant “is anything but small.”}:

“The AFSOSC site solicits donations through another Marchant-run group, Conservatives for Election Integrity,” Weill reports. “That PAC has raised more than $400,000 since the beginning of the year, recent finance filings show. One of CFEI’s largest donors is the America Project, a group co-founded by election deniers and Trump pals Michael Flynn and Patrick Byrne. CFEI has spent nearly $170,000 on a Las Vegas contractor that previously made headlines for recruiting Proud Boys to attend a rally outside a Nevada election center just days after the 2020 vote, OpenSecrets reported.”:{

Weill continues, “Meanwhile, AFSOSC is backing candidates in multiple close races, in swing states where a partisan secretary of state could change the shape of future elections. Some of those candidates are active participants in events with Savin and other conspiracy theorists. The day after (an October 14) speech in Florida, Savin attended a ‘New Mexico Election Integrity Forum’ hosted by Lara Logan.Also in attendance, in person or virtually, were Marchant, New Mexico secretary of state candidate Audrey Trujillo, Arizona secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, and Michigan secretary of state candidate Kristina Karamo. All are AFSOSC candidates who have peddled conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.”

The Beast reporter points out that some of Savin/Willett’s AFSOSC candidates are very competitive in their races.

“Marchant has consistently polled ahead of his Democratic opponent Cisco Aguilar,” Weill observes. “A survey from Arizona’s Family and HighGround in mid-October found Finchem polling one point ahead of the state’s Democratic candidate.”

vote4energy 2012 cnn api

“Real people” played by actors: API’s Energy Citizens campaign tries to frame their arguments in terms of real people, like “Ben” who was :{featured in an ad:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;transition-property:var(--t8n_p1);cursor:pointer;box-sizing:border-box"):}: about oil and gas workers. Ben was actually played by :{actor Rigo Nova:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;transition-property:var(--t8n_p1);cursor:pointer;box-sizing:border-box"):}:, who also played “Carlos” the bartender in the right-wing dystopian fantasy film “:{Obamaland Part 1: Rise of the Trumpublikans:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;transition-property:var(--t8n_p1);cursor:pointer;box-sizing:border-box"):}:.”

CRT "concerned parents" often on payroll of some group?

shillenberger

heat email 121

The antler guy isn't a climate activist. He's an eco-fascist.

The "climate twist" in the Trump-led riot is not what Michael Shellenberger says it is.

Emily Atkin

Jan 11

Supporters of Trump, including Jake Angeli, breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images.]

I decided to peek at the Twitter accounts of the Republican Party’s favorite climate “experts” over the weekend. I wanted to see what they were saying about the deadly, violent riots President Donald Trump invoked at the U.S. Capitol—specifically, whether they were spreading misinformation about it with the same ease they spread misinformation about the climate crisis.

The first account I looked at wasMichael Shellenberger. The founder of the pro-nuclear group Environmental Progress accepts the existence of climate change, but rejects science showing catastrophic impacts. Earlier this year, Shellenberger downplayed the health consequences of climate change as the Republican-called witness at a House climate hearing.

I didn’t have to look any further after going to his profile. Because when I got there, I saw he was implying that Jake Angeli—the high-profile Q-anon supporter/pro-Trump rioter wearing antlers and face paint, recently taken into custody for storming the Capitol—was a “paid actor” who might also be a secret lefty climate activist. It was too good not to look into.

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

There's a climate change twist in the plot!

The guy in the buckskin appears to be a professional actor

In 2019, he played a shaman at a climate event in Arizona!

Nobody could make this stuff up!

Hundreds march in Arizona in solidarity with climate strikes around the world

Hundreds of young people\u00a0converged\u00a0on the streets of downtown Phoenix Friday afternoon, demanding action on climate change.

azcentral.com

January 7th 2021

579 Retweets1,326 Likes

Michael Shellenberger

@ShellenbergerMD

Does that mean the guy, Jake Angeli, was hired to participate in both events?

Or was one volunteer?

Wild and weird story

January 7th 2021

21 Retweets192 Likes

Shellenberger amplifies “paid actor” climate activist conspiracy

The implication that Angeli might be a secret climate activist or paid actor first started spreading on Wednesday, when right-wing YouTuber Cari Kelemen shared photos of Angeli attending a climate rally and a Black Lives Matter rally.

“Trump supporters don't usually attend 'climate activism' events,” she said in asince-deleted tweet. “The guy is an actor. Who knows what side he's on?"

The next day, Shellenberger tweeted that there was “a climate change twist in the plot” of the riots. “The guy in the buckskin appears to be a professional actor,” he said. Shellenberger cited the climate rally as evidence, and said Angeli might have been “hired to participate.” He also questioned whether which side Angeli might “volunteer” for.

“Nobody could make this stuff up!” he said.

Actually, it’s very easy to make this stuff up.

It’s not hard to believe Angeli is a secret climate activist getting paid to impersonate a Trump supporter while inciting violent riots. All you have to do is pretend the signs he’s holding at the protests don’t exist, while also believing that everything Angeli ever said about himself is a lie.

The photo Keleman tweeted of Angeli at a Black Lives Matter rally, for example, cropped out his sign. The full photo shows he was there to express support for Q-anon. Angeli himself has also said he was there as a counter-protester, and is a fervent supporter of Trump and Q-anon.

The sign Angeli brought to the Global Youth Climate Strike in Arizona in 2019 also indicated the reason he was there: to advertise his conspirituality-centered Youtube account. (Conspirituality, writes Jules Evans, the policy director of the Centre for the History of Emotions, is the overlap between conspiracy theory culture and spirituality/wellness culture, which Angeli subscribes to).

There is also no evidence that Angeli is a paid actor. The only thing that comes close is a now-deleted profile on Backstage.com, in which he called himself a “highly talented” voice actor, but lists no actual work performed. (Anyone can make a Backstage account).

The real “climate twist in the plot” is that Angeli is eco-fascist

Angeli’s sign at the climate march said: “The poles are shifting! The ice caps are melting! This is Ragnarok! It’s time to wake up! Youtube Star Seed Academy Channel.”

YouTube appears to have deleted Angeli’s channel for violation of its community guidelines; The name is now owned by a Canadian woman who says she has no affiliation to Angeli. But existingYoutube videos of Angeli talking about Star Seed Academy show him talking about Q and mind control and psychedelic drugs; typical conspirituality stuff, according to Evans.

Evans recently published a fascinating deep-dive into Angeli’s now-deleted social media accounts to explain his ideology. In that deep-dive, Evans found evidence of Angeli’s environmental beliefs. He “says he’s interested in ‘cleansed ecosystems’ and rants against Monsanto and all the chemicals in our environment. But he’s not into global political solutions or anything involving the U.N., all of which he thinks is part of the evil new world order.”

Angeli’s specific use of the word “cleansed” seems pretty important, as Evans has explained that conspirituality folks often dabble in eco-fascism. That’s one of the many reasons she calls the ideology’s subscribers “Nazi Hippies.”

Indeed, there’s a well-documented connection between white supremacists and green living; specifically, the “yearning for purity in the environmental sphere and a desire for racialized purity in the social sphere.” These are all things Angeli has talked about. It’s not that hard to find, but it’s definitely harder than just making stuff up.

The difficult truth: they’re covering for Hippy Nazis

Engaging with reality can be hard, and this situation is no different. Because if Angeli was not a secret leftist or a paid actor, that means he attended both events as exactly the person he claims to be. And if that’s true, that means a Nazi Hippy with eco-fascist sympathies has had his face plastered on every newspaper in the world because the president of the United States inspired him to mount a violent insurrection on the U.S. government.

That’s a hard thing to accept. It’s even harder to accept that many prominent conservatives are ignoring and/or make excuses for Nazi Hippies with eco-fascist sympathies who tried to mount a violent insurrection on the U.S. government. It’s almost unthinkable to accept that some of those people are advising the GOP on climate change.

At the same time, though, it makes a lot of sense why the GOP’s preferred climate adviser would push the unproven theory that Angeli is not actually a Trump supporter. It allows Republicans to condemn the violence without acknowledging responsibility or having to do anything about it. That’s just like his theory that climate change is not actually catastrophic, which allows Republicans to acknowledge climate change but continue to do nothing.

The Venn diagrams continue to overlap into oblivion.

authorities tie viral 'protesters needed' Craigslist ad to registered Republican voter

Meaghan Ellis

December 03, 2020

Local authorities in Lancaster County, NE, have confirmed the viral Craigslist ad seeking protesters is tied to a Lincoln, NE, resident and registered republican

https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/some-among-trumps-white-house-south-lawn-audience-were-paid-to-be-there

hunter kos

Donald Trump has always been a game show kind of guy, so it's maybe not a surprise that his first public rally after his hospitalization for COVID-19 symptoms turned into a game show itself, of sorts.

Do you like prizes, kids? Do like prizes enough to listen to Donald Trump talk? Do you like prizes enough to risk your life during a deadly pandemic to listen to Donald Trump talk? Well then, you are in luck! Because conservative weirdo Candace Owens is handing out free travel and lodging to anyone willing to put on an oversized blue T-shirt and risk pandemic death on the White House's South Lawn.

Yeah, that's right. Donald Trump's White House rally on Saturday, the one that was absolutely not a campaign event, the one that featured Trump addressing an adoring teal-shirted and mostly maskless crowd wedged shoulder to shoulder, the scene right out of Evita 2: Mar-a-Lago Boogaloo, the ol' balcony Mussolini routine—an unknown number of those folks were paid to be there. ABC News reports that Owens' fake grassroots "BLEXIT" group offered to cover travel and lodging expenses for a "limited" number of people who showed up and were willing to wear the light blue T-shirts. Owens' group was already organizing a separate fake grassroots Washington, D.C., event on the same day; the White House crowd was gathered from there.

What seems to have happened, reading between the lines, is that Donald Trump was going absolutely stir-crazy and wanted to get back out on the campaign trail, contagious or not contagious, and like the previous "drive once around the hospital while unnecessarily exposing my Secret Service agents to my deadly illness," this was the hurried compromise offered to him by his staff and doctors. Bring an audience to him so that he would stay in the building a few more days rather than taking his coronavirus-infected, pneumonia-having self on a road trip.

Don't worry, though: It wasn't a campaign event. Just an event specifically for far-right voters, ones specifically gathered to encourage Black Americans to vote for Trump and Trump's allies, to hear a Donald Trump speech about "law and order," by which he means crushing the Black Lives Matter demands for police reform, with guest expenses paid by one of Trump's more visible and conspiracy-adjacent allies out of whatever slush fund first birthed the idea for their Washington, D.C. rally to begin with—one that Owens explicitly called an "anti-Black Lives Matter event," just in case people weren't clear about what the agenda was.

Eh. At this point it would be more surprising if some stunt Trump pulled wasn't a fake-ass reality show moment. The South Lawn just recovered from the totally nonpartisan (checks notes) Republican National Convention; now it's going to need repair again. It's you and me that will be paying for those repairs this time, by the way. Because all involved are insistent that this was a presidenting speech, not a campaign speech.

We do, however, have our answer. Yes, there are people willing to risk COVID-19 to see Typhoid Hitler lie to them in person, and especially so if somebody else is paying their bills. Seeing it on television is one thing, but if you go in person you can always hope that the man's spittle will land directly on you, infecting you with Dear Leader's own, um, pandemic superpowers.

Whatever. You do you, Trump supporters. Preferably over there—as far away as possible. The American version of the worldwide pandemic is slowly morphing into a partisan disease, a disease spreading most aggressively among Trump-supporting states and communities while Dear Leader rants about everything being a hoax and ... sigh. Whatever.

ref

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/candace-owens-blexit-group-pays-attendees-travel-trumps/story?id=73531036

no lnx pix vid

some guests for Saturday's White House event on the South Lawn, which will be President Donald Trump's first since testing positive for the coronavirus, had their travel and lodging paid for by controversial conservative activist Candace Owens' group BLEXIT, according to emails obtained by ABC News.

Supporters, who are also scheduled to attend a separate BLEXIT event earlier in the day, were invited to attend a "HUGE outdoor rally" by the group and asked to fill out a form that notified them that BLEXIT, a campaign urging Black Americans to leave the Democratic Party, will be covering travel costs.

Guests were later informed they would be receiving an invitation from the White House to attend an event with Trump.

In an email from Owens, obtained by ABC News, attendees were told "EVERYONE MUST BRING A MASK TO BE ALLOWED ENTRY ONTO THE WHITE HOUSE GROUNDS." and that "absolutely no exceptions" will be made.

[MORE: Trump planning to host 1st in-person event since diagnosis at White House on Saturday: Sources]

Still, wearing a face mask will not be required. Attendees will have to submit to a COVID-19 screening the morning of the event, which will consist of a temperature check and a brief questionnaire.

Guests will first attend a "BLEXIT Back the Blue event" on the Ellipse between the White House and the Washington Monument before heading over to the South Lawn for the president's remarks, according to a schedule obtained by ABC News.

When reached for comment, Owens told ABC News, "We are not interested in participating in your obvious media angle here to slander/attack the President regarding Covid-19." She added that Saturday's event "is about supporting law enforcement in minority communities." It is not immediately clear how many of those set to attend the event had their travel costs covered.

White House spokesman Judd Deere told ABC News the White House "is not involved in covering any cost."

Following Trump's remarks, the BLEXIT group is also planning a demonstration at Black Lives Matter Plaza showing "support for law enforcement," according to the schedule.

The White House plans to host an event on Saturday featuring Trump with hundreds of supporters and guests from Owens' group on the South Lawn discussing "law and order," ABC News previously reported.

MORE: 2nd presidential debate between Biden and Trump canceled]

"All attendees must bring a mask with them and will be instructed to wear it on the White House Complex. All attendees must submit to a COVID-19 screening tomorrow morning. This will consist of a temperature check and a brief questionnaire. The health and safety of all attendees is our priority and following CDC guidelines is strongly encouraged," a source with knowledge of the group's planning told ABC News.

Trump will deliver "remarks to peaceful protesters for law and order," according to an invite obtained by ABC News and confirmed by two White House sources familiar with the planning. The move underscores an effort to deliver the president a packed crowd of supporters for the event as he struggles with support among Black voters. Joe Biden led Trump, 88% to 9%, among Black registered voters, according to a Sept. 26 ABC/Washington Post poll.

Owens, who founded BLEXIT in 2018, told ABC News it is an organization "with the purpose of educating minorities about conservative principles (free markets, entrepreneurship, capitalism, etc) -- concepts and theories that can truly transform and uplift our communities."

[PHOTO: Political commentator Candace Owens introduces President Donald Trump, not pictured, during the Young Black Leadership Summit 2019 event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Oct. 4, 2019.

Political commentator Candace Owens introduces President Donald Trump, not pictured, during the Young Black Leadership Summit 2019 event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Oct. 4, 2019.]

"We stand in unapologetic, stark contrast to leftist ideologies that have destroyed our communities for decades," Owens said.

In an Instagram post last week, Owens promoted what she called an upcoming "anti-Black Lives Matter event," and urged followers to submit to attend in person. "We are giving away a limited amount of travel stipends to those that really them," she said in the post.

MORE: Trump itching to get back to campaign trail, but he and White House evasive on health questions]

"Our president doesn't want us to be fearful or scared," one person planning to attend Saturday's events told ABC News. "Look how he came out of it. He popped right back. We have got to stop being afraid of this."

"We got to take this mask off, we have to unmask America," the person added.

Attendees for Saturday's event were also told, "EVERYONE MUST WEAR A BLEXIT T-SHIRT (Which will be given to you ahead of the event) -- no exceptions."

an 920

no explicit on outside agitator/ paid protester, soros, thugs on a plan, but implicit/related statements?

When I published my book two years ago, people accused me of hysteria, of exaggeration, and they listed reasons why we shouldn’t be afraid of fascism in America, despite its deep roots in this country. And the reasons they’ve given, I’m afraid, have fallen to the wayside. They’ve given reasons like, you know, the institutions remain independent, the Justice Department remains independent. They’ve given reasons like there are no right-wing militias tacitly endorsed by the administration. So, Arendt calls our attention to the fact that the Nazi government refused to condemn the violence of right-wing — right-wing, far-right violent people on the streets attacking Jews. They refused to condemn them. They didn’t endorse them; they just refused to condemn them. And Arendt said that was giving them permission.

So, you know, we’ve seen four years of chaos here, and yet we’re being told that this is law and order. So, we’re seeing militias on the street endorsed by the president. We’re seeing the administration echo a conspiracy theory that looks, really, a great deal like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which is the early 20th century conspiracy that Judeo-Bolsheviks were behind liberalism and controlled the media, controlled the cultural institutions, where bankers were in cahoots with media and the art world to bring about world communism. We saw that at the RNC. Senator Tim Scott talked about Manhattan elites and Hollywood moguls supposedly trying to bring socialism to the United States. This mixture of a wealthy elite and communists is reminiscent of some of the worst conspiracy theories of the 20th century. So I’m very concerned here.

We’re seeing — people said, “It’s not fascism, because they’re not attacking democracy.” Well, what are the attacks on the elections about, if not attacks on democracy? So, while I don’t think Trump himself has a vision, has some kind of grand vision, as the fascists of yore has, as Timothy Snyder has called it, this is “not-even fascism.” I think we’re seeing a structure emerge, with figures like Stephen Miller, with all the sort of white supremacist ideologues in this administration, that could bring about, definitely, a turn to authoritarianism. It’s definitely an attack on democracy that the RNC represented.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to — back to the Republican convention, to President Trump formally accepting the nomination before a crowd of about 1,500 people crowded onto the South Lawn of the White House. During his acceptance speech, Trump made no reference to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, or the killing of the two protesters that had just happened in Kenosha by a 17-year-old white Trump-supporting vigilante.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable. And it will. But when we can never have a situation where things are going on, as they are today, we must never allow mob rule. We can never allow mob rule. In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities all, like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and New York and many others. Democrat-run. There is violence and danger in the streets of many Democrat-run cities throughout America.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Professor Stanley, as you have a white officer shooting at point-blank range seven times in the back Jacob Blake just days before, and then two Black Lives Matter activists shot dead in the streets of Kenosha by a Trump-supporting gunman, no mention of them, but talking about mob rule in the streets somewhere of cities that are run by Democrats.

JASON STANLEY: OK. So, there’s two chapters in my book — my book is a 10-part characterization of fascist tactics. There’s two parts in my — two chapters in my book that are deeply relevant for what is happening now: obviously, chapter seven, “Law and Order,” and chapter nine, “Sodom and Gomorrah.”

What is meant by “Sodom and Gomorrah”? Chapter two of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf is called “My Study and Struggles in Vienna,” and he talks about his time in Vienna, a city, the capital of Austria, filled with foreigners, dirty, diseased, all sorts of different languages, filled with immigrants, and then the hated minority group, which for him were Jews. So, what we see is a repetition of this tactic: an attack on cities. Hypocritical, of course — Trump is from Queens. But what Trump is doing is trying to represent cities as filled with foreigners, minorities and disease. Earlier, he described New York City as filled with — as disease-ridden. And I think yesterday or, I think, in the last 24 hours, he said he blamed the COVID deaths on New York City. So, the idea is an attack on — you know,cities are dens of iniquity and foreignness. Real Americans live in rural areas outside the cities. And the cities are where you have mobs out of control, immigrants. There’s sanctuary cities. This is a classic tactic of this kind of far-right fascist politics.

And then law and order. What’s meant by “law and order” here? Not when — you know, Kyle Rittenhouse is not a violation of law and order. Kyle Rittenhouse, who murdered two people, who killed two people, is — he’s a radicalized 17-year-old. He’s not a violation of law and order, because white Trump supporters are law-abiding by their nature. The Trump rally we saw in Portland, shooting paintballs, aggressive against the counterprotesters, that was law-abiding. They were peaceful protesters, because on this notion of law and order, young Black men are, in and of themselves, violators of law and order. Leftist protesters against Trump can be doing nothing but rioting and looting.

Now, any protest — almost any protest is going to have elements with bad apples that become violent. Look at the Hong Kong protests. The Hong Kong became much more violent than anything we’ve seen here. Nevertheless, the Republicans did not denounce the Hong Kong protests as riots. Do you know who denounced the Hong Kong protests as riots? The Chinese government. What we’re seeing here is our government behave like the Chinese government, representing largely peaceful protests, with some bad elements that grow violent and should be condemned, as riots. And that’s a counterinsurgency, authoritarian tactic.

“Law and order” here does not mean law and order. Does this feel like law and order? Do the last four years feel like law and order? That very speech that we witnessed at the RNC was a violation of law and order, because it was given from White House grounds in violation of the Hatch Act, so, you know — and proudly so, because this administration revels in its violation of law and order, because, in fascism, “law and order” means whatever the leader says, and “law-abiding” means whoever the leader is, and “lawless” means the men of the minority group and leftists and radicals, supposed leftist radicals.

AMY GOODMAN: President Trump has said New Jersey’s first African American U.S. senator, Cory Booker, will help Joe Biden destroy peaceful suburbs by bringing low-income housing and crime. This is Trump speaking to Fox News Monday night.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You have this beautiful community in the suburbs, including women, right? Women. They want security. I ended where they build low-income housing project right in the middle of your neighborhood. I ended it. If Biden gets in, he already said it’s going to go at a much higher rate than ever before. And you know who’s going to be in charge of it? Cory Booker. That’s going to be nice. OK?

AMY GOODMAN: Cory Booker, the president says. Professor Stanley?

JASON STANLEY: So, there’s no evidence at all that Cory Booker, a senator, an African American senator from New Jersey, is going to be running any such program. He throws his name in.

He mentions women. Why does he mention women? Well, this harkens back to what Langston Hughes called “our native fascisms.” This harkens back to the worst moments in American history, the history of lynching. Ida B. Wells, in Southern Horrors, the great Ida B. Wells, the great anti-lynching activist and intellectual and journalist, said, “Look, racism and sexism go together.” They’re treating white women as victims who need to be protected from marauding Black men by a strong leader, by — you know, by white militias, the KKK.

Trump is directly harkening back to that horrific time in American history, which is this sort of lynching in the late 19th, early 20th century to mid-20th century. This is something that Du Bois, in Black Reconstruction, calls fascism, so American fascism. This is the aspect of America that influences Hitler, that influences the Jim Crow laws, the racial subordination.

Here, so I have a chapter in my book called “Sexual Anxiety.” You know, in Germany, the idea behind both Nazi Germany — Nazi German ideology and the Ku Klux Klan, often called the first fascist organization, was that Jews, Marxist Jews, were trying to promote a race war to get Black Americans to — to get Blacks and immigrants to overthrow the white Christianity. And the idea, you know, Hitler fomented this, as I document in my book. It’s also the case that you had this propaganda, that overlaps between here and QAnon, that we need to protect our women and children from these predators, pedophile rings.

But this echoes the classic American, supposed and completely fictional Black male rapist fiction, fictional narrative, that underlay lynching. And the random evocation of Cory Booker is a case in point. Ida B. Wells is, sadly, more relevant than ever.

AMY GOODMAN: During the Republican convention, speakers used apocalyptic language to describe the dangers of a Biden presidency. This is Charlie Kirk, the founder of the right-wing student group Turning Point.

CHARLIE KIRK: We may not have realized it at the time, but Trump is the bodyguard of Western civilization. Trump was elected to protect our families from the vengeful mob that seeks to destroy our way of life, our neighborhoods, schools, churches and values. President Trump was elected to defend the American way of life.

AMY GOODMAN: Charlie Kirk, the founder of the right-wing student group Turning Point. Professor Stanley, respond to this and also people raising their eyebrows and saying, “Oh, come on, Nazi Germany, you’re comparing this to?”

JASON STANLEY: That speech is highly evocative of a speech that Goebbels, Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, gave in 1935 called “Communism with Its Mask Off.” In Goebbels’ speeches, including that speech, which I encourage people to look up, he regularly represents the threat as being a threat to Western civilization. He says the Nazi Party is going to protect social conservatives, Christians from the Armageddon of communism, which seeks to destroy civilization as such. Goebbels says the communists are in cahoots with the international underworld. So, that’s that link between communism and crime and supposed lawless crime.

So you have the same idea here. There’s Trump, on the one hand, protecting Christianity, protecting Western civilization, and anyone opposed to Trump is a lawless mob in cahoots with communists seeking to destroy civilization itself. And this is the friend-enemy distinction that is so antithetical to democracy.

https://www.newsweek.com/us-protest-conspiracy-theory-george-soros-paid-protester-youtube-interview-social-media-1507866

no lnx twt see snopes

NEWS

George Soros Conspiracy Resurfaces Using Old 'Paid Protestor' YouTube Video: 'How Gullible Can You Be?'

BY JASON MURDOCK ON 6/1/20

A YouTube video of an interview with a "paid protester" who claimed to be funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros is currently circulating on social media, as waves of protests continue to erupt across the U.S.

The footage—uploaded to the platform in 2017—has been circulating on Facebook and Twitter in recent days amid demonstrations sparked by the death of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, after an arrest by police in Minneapolis on May 25.

In the two minute clip, originally aired on the The Young Turks (TYT) news show, the unidentified man claims to have organized protests with money provided by Soros, a common trope used by conspiracy theorists—and president Donald Trump.

The video has this week been shared on social media as evidence of nefarious behavior taking place during the most recent outburst of demonstrations in the country.

Michael Tracey, the journalist who conducted the original TYT interview, tweeted today to stress the segment was not to be taken seriously—despite it being shared by Greg Raths, a veteran running for California's 45th Congressional District.

"People are... circulating this old interview I did with a 'paid protester' who said he was funded by George Soros. The guy was obviously trolling! It was a schtick. Anyone who actually believes this was authentic is incredibly gullible," he tweeted.

"The guy was an oddball doing an obvious shtick. If you are not delusional, you can tell I was playing along in the video," Tracey told Newsweek via direct message. "It's hilarious to me people have suddenly latched onto this over three years later, including a random Republican congressional candidate in California. How gullible can you be?"

People are apparently circulating this old interview I did with a "paid protester" who said he was funded by George Soros. The guy was obviously trolling! It was a schtick. Anyone who actually believes this was authentic is incredibly gullible, lol https://t.co/rpGA5R29bb

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) June 1, 2020

.@TheYoungTurks played THIS video, not any conservative news outlet, from MARCH 21 2017, that talks about paid GEORGE SOROS protestors.

From THE YOUNG TURKSâ€”far leftists! @cenkuygur this is his political reporter, Michael Tracey! pic.twitter.com/BQy9CLTZx5

— Greg Raths (@GregRaths) June 1, 2020

There are some very clear signs in the original news segment that the unidentified man in the vox-pop was not a completely reliable source of information, including the claim hesigned up to be a paid protester via a form on George Soros' website.

"You just sign up, right there, you put your name in, you put your email address and there's an empty box there where you say how many times you are willing to protest and how much you want to get paid," the man says in the interview.

The interviewee claims the check came directly from Soros, and had been signed by the billionaire himself. "Does he sign it in blood?" Tracey responds.

"He even invited me to lunch," the man continues. "He said if I'm willing to gather some more friends I can get paid, like, twice as much for every friend that I gather and kind of set up a pyramid scheme. I already have [got rich]. So basically I have been organizing most of the protesting you see in California so far, and it's all due to being paid."

With a smirk, he added: "If I wasn't being paid I would be, you know, skiing. I just wish more people knew about it because then we could actually start a movement."

An earlier upload of the clip, dated March 21, 2017, attracted more than 627,900 views. It was re-uploaded to the platform by a conspiracy theory-filled account on May 30 this year, gaining close to 55,000 more YouTube views in just two days.

On Facebook, the clip was shared to a public group titled "Dan Crenshaw for President 2024" which has more than 70,000 members—potentially explaining the surge.

On Twitter, the video is being shared in response to uploads about the recent protests, despite being wholly unrelated and uploaded void of context.

Google, which owns YouTube, and Facebook have been contacted for comment by Newsweek.

Both videos, the original and the re-upload, remain online at the time of writing.

Conspiracy theories focused on Soros and his global network of partner operations—known as the Open Society Foundations—are well-documented.

Speculation in some corners of the internet—and some right wing media outlets—has long suggested that his support of progressive causes is tied to the financing of protest groups. He is often referred to as a "political bogeyman" of the far right.

The Hungarian-born philanthropist's website says he believes that "societies can only flourish when they allow for democratic governance...and respect for individual rights."

But his wealth and far-reach has only fueled global conspiracies.

Fringe no longer, in 2018 president Trump tweeted that "Soros and others" were tied to some of the public protesting his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. The same year, Trump associated Soros with funding of the so-called "migrant caravan."

A demonstrator holds up a sign during a protest in Denver, Colorado, on May 31, 2020, over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died while while being arrested and pinned to the ground by the knee of a Minneapolis police officer.]

https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/qanon-loving-senate-candidate-wants-martial-law-declared-in-oregon-to-combat-antifa/

no lnx vid

qAnon-loving Senate candidate wants martial law declared in Oregon to combat ‘antifa’

Written by David Neiwert / Daily KosJune 7, 2020

The Oregon GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate, Jo Rae Perkins, decided to let her “Q light” shine on a Facebook livestream earlier this week—and it was a doozy.

Perkins, an unrepentant “QAnon” conspiracy cultist, told her audience that the state needs to be placed under martial law, with the National Guard being sent not just to Portland—where there have been violent protests over police brutality—but to rural places like Klamath Falls and Bend. Her reasoning:Busloads of nefarious antifa activists, financed by the evil George Soros, are fanning out to these towns to wreak destruction.

The only problem with Perkins’ scenario: They’re not. The only places “antifa” activists (as well as many others) have clashed with police—and the only protests in which damage has occurred—have been in Portland.

There have, however, been a string of far-right hoaxes that have found audiences with credulous residents and even law-enforcement officers in these rural areas—utterly spurious reports of buses loaded up with black-clad antifascists, coming to their towns to break windows and harass local businesses.In turn, large crowds of heavily armed men have turned out on the streets of those towns to fend off the invading antifa hordes.

Perkins happily promoted those hoaxes, as well as a panoply of associated conspiracy theories, including the notoriously false and anti-Semitic claim that financier George Soros is secretly funding “antifa.” She also offered a new twist, claiming that the antifa hordes are “the army that Obama put together a few years ago.”

At the zenith of the rant, she demanded that martial law be imposed via the National Guard: “This is insurrection. And the governors need to call in the National Guard,” she said. “We need martial law to squash this ASAP.”

She continued: “Let’s think about this. We’ve been under a soft martial law since March, the middle of March … You know that and I know that. And in some places, it is far beyond a soft martial law. It has gone into a hardcore martial law.”

The solution, she said, was to call in troops: “The National Guard needs to come in because there is not enough police officers to squash what is going on. We need the National Guard to do that.”

Perkins said she was “in pure shock” at reading reports that busfuls of antifa protesters were heading to these towns: “This is ridiculous. In Klamath Falls?” she said. “People are out to protect their businesses. Two or three buses full of antifa came down from Portland. Wow! Wow!”

She began praying aloud during the livestream: “But Lord, now we have this evil, this antifa, Father God. And we say no more. Lord God, I ask that you bring out your warring angels to protect the cities, to protect the innocent people, to protect the business owners, Lord God.”

Perkins repeatedly described “antifa” as “evil”: “These cannot be people,” she said. “All I can see, Lord, is just the demonic outcry, oh God, of people that just people that feel they can just … total disregard, total disregard for other people, for their property. All in the name of justice for George Floyd.”

In short order, this became an attack on George Soros:

Lord, these people have no sense of morality, of what is right and what is wrong, Lord God. Not the ones that are causing this mayhem. This antifa. Father God, shut down George Soros, Lord God. End his reign of terror, Lord God. We know that he is funding this. Lord, we say. ‘Strip that money, strip that money strip that money.’ If there is a way, Father God, that President Trump’s administration can block him from being able to spend any more money, Lord God, then allow that happen.

She later reiterated: “Then we have theantifa thugs. Many many people believe that they are being paid for by George Soros. And I have seen anything to dispel that rumor. I have never seen George Soros come out and say he has nothing to do with it.”

Perkins added that “the media are supporting antifa because they are all part of the same cabal,” which she went on to explain was “the Deep State.”

But it wasn’t just Soros to blame, according to Perkins. So was former President Barack Obama:

Clearly there’s crazy people out there. Clearly we need to get a grip. Clearly we need to be praying. Clearly we need some strong leadership in our states. That is clear. Oregon needs Governor Brown to call out the National Guard. The National Guard is here, they need to be deployed, they need to be activated. Ashland, Klamath Falls, Eugene, Salem, Portland. Where else are they gonna pop up? Bend? I will bet you guys that Bend is gonna happen next. It will be next, because Bend is a large town. Bend, and Pendleton. They are deploying all over the place.

This is the army—this is the army that Obama put together a few years ago. Wasn’t there an army that he put together a few years ago? I just read about it.

For the record: No buses bearing hordes of ravening antifascists appeared in Klamath Falls, or any other of the multiple locations where they were rumored to be about to descend—which in Oregon included such towns as Medford, Grants Pass, and Coquille. (In Curry County, the local sheriff shared the false rumor with his constituents on Facebook, then later deleted the post when it became apparent there was no there there.) There still are no reports, yet, of similar mythical buses headed for Bend or Pendleton, but given the ease with which they appear to spread on Facebook and among “QAnon” conspiracists, that likely is just a matter of time.

Perkins will face incumbent Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley in the November general election.

https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/republican-elected-officials-are-peddling-a-conspiracy-theory-that-george-soros-is-paying-protesters/

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a statewide elected Republican official, has posted multiple memes and comments on his Facebook page in recent days falsely claiming that billionaire George Soros orchestrated nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd.

The posts are similar in nature and tone to some of the racist posts bylocal GOP officials in recent days that suggested the killing of Floyd in Minneapolis police custody was done with the intent of starting a race war or to erode black support for President Donald Trump. The posts from those local officials have prompted calls for resignation from the state’s top GOP officials.

One post from Miller on Sunday included an image of Soros with accompanying text that read, “Climate change didn’t work. Impeachment didn’t work. The virus didn’t work. Start the race war.”

“The man is pure evil!” Miller commented.

“Folks this is not a protest,” read another post from early Sunday morning. “It is a well orchestrated attack on America’s major cities with plans to attack the police, riot, loot, and burn buildings. The so-called ‘protestors’ are, in fact, domestic terrorists who were organized and paid for by George Soros to further divide our country.These terrorists were bused into these large cities. We must repel this attack and hold those responsible for their actions. This must be brought to a stop now or we will lose control of our country!”

Soros, who has spent billions of dollars supporting liberal and pro-democracy causes around the world, has long been a target of conspiracy theorists on the ideological right. Some theories note his Jewish heritage and invoke antisemitic tropes. The Anti-Defamation League has reported that hundreds of thousands of social media posts in recent days have falsely suggested that he is behind the recent protests. Fact-checkers have debunked multiple fake flyers circulating on social media purported to be from organizations linked to Soros that were offering people money to protest.

“Although the vast majority of Soros-related conspiracy theories do not mention his Jewish heritage, the concern remains that they can serve as a gateway to the antisemitic subculture that blames Jews for the riots,” the ADL said in a blog post this week.

In a statement addressing Miller’s posts and others written or shared by local GOP officials, Texas Democratic Party Communications Director Abhi Rahman said ” the onus falls on Governor Greg Abbott and other Texas Republican leaders to put an immediate halt on racially hostile actions from within their own ranks.”

On Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott and other top Texas Republicans called for the resignation of the GOP chairs in Bexar and Nueces counties after they shared on social media a conspiracy theory that Floyd’s death was a “staged event,” apparently to gin up opposition to Trump.

A spokesman for Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Miller’s posts.

Miller has a history of posting incendiary and false statements on his social media channels, including on a Facebook page that has more than 800,000 followers.He posted — and then deleted — a tweet in 2016 that called Hillary Clinton the C-word and in 2015 wrote a Facebook post that endorsed the atomic bombing of the “Muslim world.” Late last year, after he read a Facebook post that accused officials running a Veteran’s Day parade in his hometown of Stephenville of denying entry to a Confederate group, he commented, “Who told them to leave? Get a rope.”

In December 2016, a Texas Tribune analysis of a portion of Miller’s social media history identified 10 postings of demonstrably false, misleading or unsupported information.

Disclosure: The Foundation to Promote Open Society, founded by George Soros, has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/shell-employees-who-skipped-trump-rally-lost-hundreds-in-income-while-attendees-made-time-and-a-half-pennsylvania-union-leaders/

no lnx pix vid

Shell employees who skipped Trump rally lost hundreds in income while attendees made time and a half: Pennsylvania union leaders

Written by Jessica Sutherland / Daily Kos August 18, 2019

Thousands of Shell contractors were in attendance at Donald Trump’s big union speech in Monaca, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean they wanted to be. While it’s no secret that the workers were paid to be there, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on Friday that the consequences of not attending amounted to far more than just the loss of one day’s wages. Employees who wanted to skip the MAGAfest were technically free to do so, but their choice would cause a loss of as much as $700 later in the week.

Those that decided to sit out the event would have an excused absence, the company said, and would not qualify for overtime pay on Friday. The company has a 56-hour workweek with 16 hours of overtime. That means those workers who attended Mr. Trump’s speech and showed up for work on Friday meeting the overtime threshold are being paid at a rate of time and a half, while those that didn’t go to hear the president are being paid the regular rate, despite the fact that both groups did not do work on the site on Tuesday.

And everyone knows how much this administration loves overtime. https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2019/03/08/trump-administration-releases-new-overtime-rules/

Those that did attend were required to be present from 7 AM until well after 3 PM with no lunch break allowed, or lunch provided. Additionally, employees were told that they were expected to “promote good will from the labor unions” by Shell, whatever their personal feelings about the current administration might be.

So @Shell Oil had them show up at 7am but without steel toe boots and thus not working all day on a construction site.

They were paid props, ordered by @Shell not to “resist”. pic.twitter.com/3FI67zCT5l

— STOP tRumpnado ?? (@Trumpnado2016) August 14, 2019

Just in case you missed it:

“No yelling, shouting, protesting or anything viewed as resistance will be tolerated at the event.”

In an interview with the Post-Gazette, one union leader was careful to defend the event.

“This is just what Shell wanted to do and we went along with it,” said Ken Broadbent, business manager for Steamfitters local 449. […]

“We’re glad to have the jobs. We’re glad to have the project built,” he said. “The president is the president whether we like him or dislike him. We respect him for the title.”

Mr. Broadbent said anyone who did not want to show up to work that day was free to do so. “This is America,” he said.

This is America, it’s true, but is it really free will with such expensive consequences for refusing to be part of a presidential photo op … and such restrictive conditions if one agreed to do so?

Reporters on the ground on Tuesday also noted that after standing, without a lunch break, for eight hours, the workers were forced to spend more of their time, unpaid, in an exit queue.

It’s becoming a mess getting workers out of Trump event. Crowd getting angry. Many of them stopped getting paid at 3pm when their shift ended. pic.twitter.com/KIe0x6WxA7

— Shannon Pettypiece (@spettypi) August 13, 2019

The Post-Gazette reports that, despite Shell claiming that “building trades leaders and jobs stewards have agreed to” the terms of the Trump appearance, several union leaders stated that they weren’t aware of the rules until the day before, when Shell sent out the infamous memo.

On Friday, a Shell spokesman insisted that Tuesday’s event wasn’t propaganda fodder for Trump, it was simply a “paid training day with a guest speaker who happened to be the President.”

“It’s not uncommon for us to shut down the site for quarterly visits from VIPs — popular sports figures like Rocky Bleier and Franco Harris have visited the site to engage with workers and to share inspirational messages. Shell/Penske NASCAR driver, Joey Logano was another guest at the site,” (Shell spokesman Ray) Fisher said.

As a Browns fan, it seems like it would be much easier to show up for Steelers legend Franco Harris than for Trump. But hey, maybe that’s just me.

On February 21, the New Orleans City Council unanimously voted to uphold approval of Entergy's proposed natural gas power plant, which faces a growing number of lawsuits, and passed a resolution toimpose a $5 million fine on the company for its role in a paid-actors scandal.

https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/05/10/entergy-natural-gas-power-plant-new-orleans-astroturfing-campaign

Before the vote, in nearly three hours of often emotional testimony mostly against the plant, many contended that the $5 million fine was not a sufficient punishment. This was in light of the council's commissioned investigation, which concluded the company "knew or should have known" that a subcontractor was paying actors to support its proposed power plant at council meetings.

Entergy New Orleans, the company that recently won approval to build a controversial $210 million natural gas power plant in the city, confirmed that actors were paid to show support for this project at public meetings. Though Entergy claims it was unaware of the situation, a public relations firm it hired had paid freelance actors to testify in favor of the project at public meetings.

On May 10, Entergy released its finding from an internal investigation revealing that the public affairs firm The Hawthorn Group, which it hired to organize “grassroots support” for the natural gas power plant, in fact paid actors to voice and show support for the plant. The Hawthorn Group in turn hired a company called Crowds on Demand to “pay individuals that it recruited to appear and/or speak at those two meetings.”

“This activity was undertaken without our knowledge or approval, and I can say unequivocally that it would not have been approved had we known,” Entergy General Counsel Marcus Brown said in a statement. “We do, however, recognize that we ultimately are responsible for the actions of those who act on our behalf, and we are taking immediate steps to prevent a similar situation from happening again.”

Earlier this week, The Lens, an investigative journalism site, reported that actors were paid $60 to show up at the meetings, and up to $200 to read a statement at two recent public meetings when critical votes regarding the plant were held.

At one meeting in October last year, 50 people wearing orange shirts that read “Clean Energy. Good Jobs. Reliable Power” filled seats in an auditorium, preventing many residents who oppose the project from getting into the room. Entergy plans to build the natural gas power plant in New Orleans East, which is home to majority African-American and Vietnamese communities, raising concerns of environmental racism. Proponents claim the plant would address New Orleans’ energy outage issues, while critics say they could be solved for less money by fixing the city’s ailing transmission system.

The Lens reported that the actors had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and were instructed not to speak to the media or tell anyone they were being paid to attend.

Before the admission, Earthjustice filed a lawsuit on behalf of opponents of the power plant, including members of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, the Sierra Club, the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, and 350 New Orleans, in order to void the actions taken at the two meetings, one a city council meeting and another a utility commission meeting.

The opponents also sent a letter to the Louisiana Attorney General, Buddy Landry, calling for an investigation into who paid for the fake participants, and possible legal and ethical violations.

Renate Heurich of 350 New Orleans testifying against the gas power plant on March 8, 2018.]

Renate Heurich of 350 New Orleansdoesn’t believe Entergy didn’t know the company’s money was going to paid actors at the public meetings. “I think the corruption goes much deeper than that,” she told me. “Why else would anyone on the council vote ‘yes’ on a project that has no value for the residents of New Orleans?”

At the March council meeting before the vote for the plant was held, Heurich pleaded with the council not to invest in a fossil fuel infrastructure project in a city already plagued by the effects of climate change. “The vote for the plant, clearly wasn’t based on logic,” Heurich said. “The only one who benefits is Entergy.

Astroturfing — secretly paying for efforts to create the illusion of grassroots support — is nothing new, but proving a company like Entergy may be involved can be challenging.

Hawthorn, however, has a history of astroturf campaigns on behalf of the energy industry, as pointed out by the Energy and Policy Institute. In 2009, the company, paid by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, hired a subcontractor to create the illusion of grassroots support against climate change legislation, which involvedforging letters from minority groups such as NAACP’s Charlottesville chapter. And sometimes paid support can take another form — such as the fact that Entergy's foundation donated more than a million dollars to at least nine charitable organizations that testified on the plant's behalf, without always disclosing those donations, at the same public meetings now under scrutiny.*

Brendan DeMelle, DeSmog’s executive director, wrote about a 2014 astroturf effort made by communications firm Edelman on behalf of TransCanada for the Energy East tar sands export pipeline (a project ultimately killed in 2017). Documents obtained by Greenpeace outline a “grassroots advocacy” campaign plan to build support for TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline, as well as to undermine public opposition to oil and pipelines generally.

Entergy’s claim that it didn’t know about the astroturfing effort made on its behalf sounded disingenuous to members of the coalition against the plant whom I spoke with after Entergy released its findings.

Happy Johnson testifying at a New Orleans City Council Meeting against Entergy’s proposed natural gas power plant. FLAnked by 2 cops about to pull him out?!

Happy Johnson, author and humanitarian and an outspoken opponent to the gas plant, hopes in light of Entergy’s admission the permit will be reconsidered. According to Johnson, at the next council meeting on May 24, opponents plan to make their case to the newly seated city council that the permit needs to be revoked. “With this kind of trickery, I hope the new council will do the right thing and take another look,” Johnson said.

620 srch